It's on to Green Bay

Brady_to_Moss said:

Difference being GB is a much tougher place to play..but this team is the best in the NFL...few weeks ago i was sure they would lose this game..not it's a toss up IMO

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I don't subscribe that any place is tougher to play than the last. Any given Sunday in the NFL.

If you're playing well and execute then you can play anywhere.

Onedaful said:

If you bring up the prediction thread for the tough 6 game stretch earlier this year you will find my post predicting 6 wins..

I'm 4/4 so far and still believe I will be 6/6 after San Diego. It'll be a great game but I still think we will take it

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don't get hurt patting yourself on the back. you should go to Vegas and make straight cash homey

Boston Boxer said:

don't get hurt patting yourself on the back. you should go to Vegas and make straight cash homey

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The roll I'm on I'm about to make everyone on the forums rich. Watch out Vegas.

ausbacker said:

I don't subscribe that any place is tougher to play than the last. Any given Sunday in the NFL.

If you're playing well and execute then you can play anywhere.

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"You can play anywhere" doesn't mean it's not also tougher to play in one place vs. another. Every team does worse on the road than at home. Study after study after study in virtually all sports shows that refs are (un/subconsciously) biased toward the home team. In football, the crowd can have a meaningful effect by forcing the visiting offense to revert to silent snap counts and the like. And so on.

Patriots seem to play OK @ Green Bay in the past.

I think KC and Miami are the toughest places to play for the Patriots... IMO

Patriots underdog right now. I think they revel on this.

Patriots has not peaked, IMO. Casillas, Branch, and Ayers are slowly getting comfortable and shows in their play. LaFell - Brady getting more comfortable. Even Amendola is contributing.

Blount has something to prove and is mad.

At this rate, it's more than probable that Patriots finish @ 14-2.

Cross fingers on everyone keeping healthy, when SB comes in Feb.

rlcarr said:

"You can play anywhere" doesn't mean it's not also tougher to play in one place vs. another. Every team does worse on the road than at home. Study after study after study in virtually all sports shows that refs are (un/subconsciously) biased toward the home team. In football, the crowd can have a meaningful effect by forcing the visiting offense to revert to silent snap counts and the like. And so on.

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I acknowledge your point I just don't care for the position. Not every team is like New England. Good to great teams can win everywhere.

Sure, they can win everywhere. Doesn't mean their chance of winning is equal everywhere even vs. the identical opponent.

rlcarr said:

Sure, they can win everywhere. Doesn't mean their chance of winning is equal everywhere even vs. the identical opponent.

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I never said it was.

Pats can beat the packers. What I fear the most is the Pats tendency offensively to come out flat occasionally,like the first half against Indy. The difference now is we have a defense to carry the team until Brady and Mcdaniels wake up.Please make this your best showing.

While I agree any team can win anywhere and good teams should win anywhere if you look at the good teams this year I bet most don't do great on the road, as others have mentioned. I think the pats got a better chance than any team to go to GB and win. I think GB's defense is suspect, I also think Nelson can be covered by the pats defense, which I think is pretty dam good.

ausbacker said:

I don't subscribe that any place is tougher to play than the last. Any given Sunday in the NFL.

If you're playing well and execute then you can play anywhere.

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I have never met an NFL player who would agree with you, and I usually make a point of asking about this. Granted, I've only asked three of them. While it's true that playing well wins games, not being able to hear anything influences your execution in big ways.

neuronet said:

I have never met an NFL player who would agree with you, and I usually make a point of asking about this. Granted, I've only asked three of them. While it's true that playing well wins games, not being able to hear anything influences your execution in big ways.

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I agree with your contention but that doesn't change the fact that you can prepare for a loud environment.

Seems like even people here are buying into the GB hype. This is the type of team Belichick excels at game planning against and he has the personnel to do so successfully this year. I wouldn't be surprised if we win by 10 or more.

chasa said:

at what point are the patriots going to stop having their "toughest test" every week its a new toughest test.

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February.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/pack...ue-of-9-2-patriots-b99396265z1-283779111.html

hmmm

When McCarthy took his team into Foxborough, Mass., in 2010, the Packers did not play scared. They had the No. 1 defense in the NFL and the Patriots had the No. 1 offense.

On the opening kickoff, McCarthy ordered an onside kick. The Packers recovered and opened the scoring with a 31-yard field goal by Mason Crosby.

When the Patriots had the ball, Capers did what many others were afraid to do: have his cornerbacks play press coverage on Brady's receivers, including Charles Woodson in the slot against Wes Welker. Then he sicced linebacker Clay Matthews on Brady down after down.

Brady completed just 15 of 24 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns.

The Patriots won the game because they were better on defense and special teams, but McCarthy's refusal to treat Belichick's team like royalty may have played a part in their competitiveness.

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ausbacker said:

I don't subscribe that any place is tougher to play than the last. Any given Sunday in the NFL.

If you're playing well and execute then you can play anywhere.

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That's too simplistic for me Aus. I'd agree that preparation for every 'away' environment starts with:'it's hard to win in an opponent's stadium, period. It comes down to execution'. With that said, some away games will see bigger advantages for the home team than others/some away games will have more room for error than others.
Based on record but also on historical HFA level I would say winning in Green Bay definitely provides less room for error which definitely requires a higher percentage degree of successful execution to achieve victory.

Personally I'm reveling in it with the Patriots playing in GB this Sunday. The Patriots have swept aside division leaders Denver, Indy, Cincy in the AFC. They swept aside division co-leader Detroit in the NFC. Now is the piece de resistance of the NFC, playing arguably the best team in the NFC (GB is #2 in point differential, 22 behind #1 Patriots) in arguably the hardest place to win at in the NFC. If the Patriots go into Lambeau and win by a straight up double digits it will leave little doubt in my mind Patriots are playing a level of football that, basically, the rest of the league isn't playing (then let's hope it stays that way!).

TheBostonStraggler said:

That's too simplistic for me Aus. I'd agree that preparation for every 'away' environment starts with:'it's hard to win in an opponent's stadium, period. It comes down to execution'. With that said, some away games will see bigger advantages for the home team than others/some away games will have more room for error than others.
Based on record but also on historical HFA level I would say winning in Green Bay definitely provides less room for error which definitely requires a higher percentage degree of successful execution to achieve victory.

Personally I'm reveling in it with the Patriots playing in GB this Sunday. The Patriots have swept aside division leaders Denver, Indy, Cincy in the AFC. They swept aside division co-leader Detroit in the NFC. Now is the piece de resistance of the NFC, playing arguably the best team in the NFC (GB is #2 in point differential, 22 behind #1 Patriots) in arguably the hardest place to win at in the NFC. If the Patriots go into Lambeau and win by a straight up double digits it will leave little doubt in my mind Patriots are playing a level of football that, basically, the rest of the league isn't playing (then let's hope it stays that way!).

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That's the thing @TheBostonStraggler in that I agree that every stadium has its own peculiarities and nuances that requires individual preparation. In Miami, it may be oppressive humidity, at Green Bay it may be snow and at Seattle it may be crowd noise/wind etc. When you combine it with the form of their team at the time, they all require individual preparation. I mean hell, BB has his guys practise with tennis racquets simulating J.J. Watt's penchant for knocking down balls at the LOS. Let' not forget, 15-20 years ago, you couldn't beat Oakland in Oakland.

Moving past that point, you have hit the nail on the head. I am looking forward to this game because it's a match-up of two in-form and excellent sides. As you have mentioned, it will be execution that gets the job done. That starts with preparation then executing on the day.

mayoclinic said:

Deion Sanders on NFL.com said that he doesn't think Rodgers is prepared to deal with the challenges of the Pats' secondary. That, combined with being a more physical team on both sides of the ball and GB having a mediocre defense makes me like this matchup.

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Mayo, do you have a link to that?

mayoclinic said:

Deion Sanders on NFL.com said that he doesn't think Rodgers is prepared to deal with the challenges of the Pats' secondary. That, combined with being a more physical team on both sides of the ball and GB having a mediocre defense makes me like this matchup.

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Who here agrees with me that Deion Sanders appears to want to have Brady's next child?

I like the Pats in this game, but one scenario for blowing it is mistakes. The best predictor of winning is turnovers and Green Bay has outperformed us in that regard. Rodgers is perhaps the most accurate passer in the NFL. Brady has made some poor decisions recently and has a few picks to show for it. We don't want to give Rodgers extra possessions. The other item is that we don't want to kill possessions or even take points off the board with penalties. We are #2 in number of penalties and #1 in yards penalized. I can tolerate the physical calls, but I would prefer we clean up the mental errors.